


One Last Camp-Out

by RocknRoll1968



Category: Calvin & Hobbes
Genre: Camping, Gen, SCARY camping, The 90s, adventures in the woods, teenage Calvin and Susie, the fate of Hobbes and Mr. Bun, very light crossover elements with another book...guess which one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-11
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:33:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27512365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RocknRoll1968/pseuds/RocknRoll1968
Summary: Calvin and Susie are both big fans of the outdoors, but when they skip school to go camping together, they get more than they bargained for when a dangerous visitor shows up at their tent.
Relationships: Calvin & Hobbes - Relationship, Calvin & Susie Derkins, Susie Derkins & Mr. Bun
Comments: 19
Kudos: 46
Collections: Yuletide 2020





	One Last Camp-Out

**Author's Note:**

  * For [tielan](https://archiveofourown.org/users/tielan/gifts).



> A/N: tielan, I had so much fun with your request and I hope you enjoy this story. Happy Yuletide!

"You're so bright, Calvin. I expect better from you." Calvin's dad was holding his latest report card, with a C standing out among the A's. The worry lines in his face seemed deeper than usual and his glasses were sliding down his nose in the way that always bugged Calvin. 

"I can't be perfect!" 

"You could do better if you wouldn't spend so much time goofing off with your friends." 

"We're not 'goofing off'," Calvin said, eyes rolling. "It's called LARPing, Dad, I've told you a million times." 

"Ok, LARPing, whatever, Calvin. Couldn't you take a theatre class and get it out of your system there?" 

Calvin groaned loudly. They had been over and over this. "NO, I couldn't. The theatre teacher kicked me out, remember?" 

"Maybe if you wrote an apology—" 

"NO! I'm done with this bullshit!" 

"Calvin! Don't swear!" 

Calvin ran up the stairs and into his bedroom, slamming the door shut. He was so sick of going around in circles about this. He hated math, didn't give a rat's ass about geometry, and was never going to put in more than the minimum effort. His dad just didn't get it. 

He lay on his bed for a minute, stewing in his anger, but decided he needed something to do to let off some steam, so he starting hunting around his room for some more junk to give away to the thrift store. The box by his door was already half-full of old toys and games, with some too-small clothing and vacation souvenirs that had lost their lustre. He walked around the room, eyeing everything, weighing the value of his various possessions. His foot hit something under his bed and he abruptly remembered the old cardboard box of stuff that was still down there. He slid it out from its hiding place and lifted the flaps. 

A big smile lit up his face when he saw the item on top. "Hobbes!" he said, pulling the old stuffed tiger out. "I almost forgot about you." He placed Hobbes on his desk, next to his computer monitor, and continued clearing out the box. He ended up discarding just about everything, deciding to hold onto his old-fashioned metal alarm clock with the Mickey Mouse face, and a few sketchbooks of old drawings he'd made as a kid. He smiled fondly as he leafed through the drawings. Most of them featured Hobbes, and lots of them also showed Susie and Mr. Bun. He'd completely forgotten about Mr. Bun. He wondered if Susie still had him. 

He got so busy cleaning out his closet that his mom had to call him for dinner. Usually he was already at the table when she was ready to serve the food, and not just because it was his chore to set the table. It felt pretty good saying goodbye to some old junk, good enough to distract him from his usual routine. He glanced at Hobbes before heading downstairs. He was still undecided about keeping him. 

Later that night, before going to sleep, Calvin picked Hobbes up off the desk and placed him on top of the overloaded box of give-away items. "Some kid could use you more than I could," he said, partly to convince himself, and partly in apology to Hobbes. He couldn't quite shake the feeling that Hobbes was glaring at him as he got into bed and turned off the light.

* * *

The next day, Calvin skipped fourth period after lunch, to go to the mall with Angie and Chris, so they could buy the newest Final Fantasy game together. They stopped at the arcade and played Dance Dance Revolution before grabbing some sodas and heading back for their last classes. Calvin was sent to the principal's office as soon as he stepped into the classroom; he had skipped one-too-many classes this semester. It was a suspension this time. 

Calvin's dad was livid when he got home from work. The school had called Calvin's mom, who had called his dad, and Calvin knew he needed to be prepared for his dad to hit the roof, so he was already packing a backpack full of camping supplies by the time his dad arrived home. No way was he spending this suspension at home where his parents could harangue him all day and night. 

"CALVIN!" Oh, boy. Calvin went downstairs to face the inevitable. His dad was standing in the living room, looking like a pot about to boil over. Calvin didn't even need to say anything, as his dad started in immediately. 

"Calvin, what on earth do you think you're doing?! You can't keep skipping classes like this! You know, you could get arrested for truancy!" 

Calvin just shrugged and crossed his arms. It never mattered what he said, anyway. 

"Don't you care at all about your future??" his dad continued. "I've worked hard all my life to give you and your mother this nice life, and you're going to throw it all away! You'll end up homeless! You can't play and dream your life away! This is the real world we're dealing with!" 

"Oh, and what am I supposed to do instead?" Calvin shot back. "Be a mindless drone, _like you?_ Work myself to death until there's nothing left? I never asked for this! This is YOUR dream!" 

His dad looked hurt, but Calvin told himself he didn't give a damn. He was fed up with all the adults surrounding him and their pathological lack of imagination. Calvin wasn't totally living in the clouds. He saw the news on TV when his parents watched it. Their generation had run the world into the ground, and they somehow expected him to carry on doing exactly what they had done to achieve that very destruction! No, thank you! Calvin did not want to be a part of that world. He wasn't sure what precisely he wanted to do with himself, but it did NOT involve working in a corporate office. 

"I want what's best for you, Calvin, and since you don't seem to understand what's best for you, I have to be here to tell you what to do! You are _grounded_ , for the next two days, while you're suspended from school. And you will be grounded AFTER school from now on, unless you attend class every day! I will be calling the school to find out! Don't think you can get out of it!" 

"Dad! You can't do that!" 

"Yes, Calvin, I can, and I will. I'm not going to have a juvenile delinquent for a son! Your mother doesn't deserve that kind of embarrassment, and I won't tolerate it." 

"You're an imbecilic, myopic, conformist automaton and you're _ruining my life!_ " Calvin shouted, and ran back up the stairs. 

"Use that vocabulary to write some good essays for English class!" his dad yelled after him. 

Yeah, fat chance Calvin was doing any homework during the next two days. He was officially on vacation. He'd had everything worked out perfectly: he had chosen electives after lunch that were simple and low-pressure, so he could easily skip class sometimes and do something interesting while still getting a passing grade from turning in excellent homework assignments. School was too easy; it just didn't hold his attention. He was smarter than most of his teachers anyway, which left him feeling vaguely contemptuous of them, especially when they got facts wrong and wouldn't listen to his corrections. 

Fuck school. Calvin was going camping. He would sneak out at dawn tomorrow before his parents woke up, and they wouldn't be able to find him once he got into the woods. He could work on the new storyline that he and Chris and Angie had been developing for their roleplay. It was too bad Susie had dropped out of the game; he still missed her input. She argued with him a lot and could actually keep up, which was really fun. 

He finished packing his backpack and spent the evening avoiding his parents, munching crackers and candy from his hidden stash and re-reading the battle of Helm's Deep for roleplay ideas.

* * *

The next morning, with his window still dark, Calvin got dressed and was just about to head out the door, pack on his back, when his eye caught on Hobbes, still sitting on the give-away pile. He could easily imagine the tiger, hands on hips, demanding to know why he wasn't invited to go camping. It made him feel guilty. He felt a little silly for feeling that way, but no one was around, so he grabbed Hobbes as he left his room, saying under his breath, "Come on, buddy. One last camp-out for us." 

Calvin very quietly raided the pantry for food, and as the sun was just sending its first rays over the edge of the horizon, Calvin unlocked the side door to the garage and went inside to grab his camping gear. It was a little chilly in the pre-dawn air, making him glad for his choice of layers. It could get cool, even in late spring, this close to the mountains. 

Calvin paused at the door, looking at the selection of walking sticks and wondering whether to bring one. His dad always insisted they all bring a walking stick when out on hikes or camping, just in case of coyotes, but Calvin had never seen a coyote, and his dad was a worrywart anyway. Calvin already had lots to carry. He put his backpack into the top of the camp pack, Hobbes on the very top with his head sticking out so he could see (Calvin stopped a second and shook his head at himself– _He's just a toy, he can't see_ ), hauled the pack onto his back, and snapped shut the waist strap to take the weight off his shoulders. Ready! 

"All right, Hobbes! Yukon ho!" Calvin set off in the direction of the woods as his neighbours slept peacefully in their houses around him, only the birds awake to see him leave.

* * *

Susie hiked up the dirt path into the woods, eventually leaving the trail and seeking a much less-used way, marked only by stacks of stones next to trees, and slightly bruised vegetation that showed her that someone had recently been here. Her years in Girl Scouts were paying off. 

It was preparing to be a bright and sunny day, with the gentlest of breezes filtering through the trees in the early morning sun. Little patches of snow still hid behind rocks and fallen logs from the last snowfall, but Susie could tell they would melt off today. Maybe it would be their last snow for the season. 

She climbed over a fallen tree covered in yellow and aqua lichens and emerged in the meadow she'd been searching for. "Caaalllvin? Hey, Calvin!" Susie yelled. "I'm not gonna snitch on you!" She looked around the green and leafy meadow with its border of aspen and pine and wondered if she should turn back. 

A voice suddenly spoke in her ear. "You promise?" 

Susie screeched and spun around, only to find Calvin standing next to her, laughing. 

She scowled at him. "God, you almost scared me to death!" 

"Too bad I didn't," he taunted, and Susie punched him in the arm. 

"Ow! That hurt," Calvin said, clutching the spot. 

"Good." 

Calvin rubbed his arm. "Come on, come see my campsite," he said. 

Susie narrowed her eyes, but agreed. "Fine." 

Calvin lead the way, pushing through some dense bushes and past an old rotting tree stump until Susie was able to see the tent and firepit at the far edge of another, smaller meadow. Calvin had already put in lots of work to make the spot comfy, stacking loose twigs and branches near the firepit, and setting up a 'table' made of some larger scraps of wood. A notebook and pen were sitting on the table, with a mug and a little bag of crackers. 

"Welcome to my humble abode!" Calvin said, stretching his arms wide to encompass the campsite. 

"More like your bolthole," Susie said. "I happen to know that you're on the lam." 

"It's true, I'm Jefferson High's Most Wanted. How'd you know I was here, though?" 

Susie shrugged. "Your mom came over before school and asked if you were at my house, so I knew you'd disappeared somewhere, and I thought I knew where, so here I am." 

"You skipped school for me? Susie, you shouldn't have!" He batted his eyelashes at her. 

"I figured you'd probably die out here without me, dummy," she scoffed. "Unlike _you,_ I'm a trained scout, and have survival skills." 

"Good, 'cause we'll need 'em. If you're staying, that is. I'm going to be out here until Thursday." 

"Why? Why aren't you going to school?" 

"I got suspended. Skipped too many classes." 

Susie shook her head at him and crossed her arms. "I _told_ you. You can get away with that in middle school, but high school is different." 

"Well, it's too late now. And anyway, you haven't skipped school at all this year, Miss Goody Two Shoes. It's high time you joined me on an adventure!" 

" _Calvin..._ " Susie protested. "I can't. I came here to convince you to come back to school with me." 

"No can do. They won't allow me back. But you came all the way up here, so you might as well stay. You could work on your extra credit project. You're supposed to be counting birds, right?" 

"Well... yeah..." Susie was doing a science project in conjunction with the local university helping to document songbird populations, and she hadn't gotten far with it yet. 

Calvin could see her hesitating. He knew she loved to be out here as much as he did. "So, what do you think?" he pressed, "Are you staying?" 

She considered it. She wouldn't just be wasting time, after all, as long as she worked on her extra credit assignment—and Calvin was right: She hadn't let her hair down much this year. It was a little tiring never taking a break. Susie sighed and relented. "Yeah, I'll stay. Do you have an extra sleeping bag, by chance?" 

"No, that's the only problem. You'd have to go back and get one." 

"All right, well I'll be back in an hour or two, I guess. I need to visit the latrine before I hike back, though. Do you have one set up?" 

"Sure do." Calvin pointed and Susie spotted the orange flag he'd used to mark the spot, a little ways out into the woods. 

On her way back into camp she spotted Calvin's backpack by the tent entrance, and more specifically, what was sitting on it, and she went over to pull Calvin's discarded jacket off the top of the backpack, breaking into a big smile. "Oh, it's Hobbes! He's just as cute as I remember," she said, picking Hobbes up for a closer look. Calvin was a little embarrassed to be caught with a stuffed toy, but at least Susie wasn't razzing him for it. She _had_ always liked Hobbes. 

"It's going to be our last camp-out," Calvin explained, "I'm going to send him on to a new home when we get back." 

"That's a great idea, Calvin. Some little kid will love him, just like you did." She stroked Hobbes's tail, then set him back down by the tent door. "Need anything from civilisation?" She asked before setting off. 

"I don't need anything, but bring your own snacks and food; I only brought enough for me." 

Susie waved and disappeared back through the bushes towards home, leaving Calvin standing by the tent. He decided to get busy gathering firewood for the evening, so they could do some cooking. He was happy Susie would be with him during his exile and he hummed aloud to himself until he spotted Hobbes in the corner of his eye. He could just see the tiger's teasing smirk, and he went over and covered his stitched face again with the jacket, saying, "Don't even start!"

* * *

Susie returned two hours later hauling her own camping equipment and got her bedroll and sleeping bag sorted out before joining Calvin to get their cooking fire started. Once the flames were rolling merrily up and down the logs, they made lunch, boiling some cans of soup over the coals and roasting hot dogs. 

As they were eating, Susie paused and grabbed her backpack from nearby. She unzipped a pocket and pulled out a small dun lump. 

"What's that?" Calvin asked, curious.

"Well," Susie said, blushing slightly, "When I saw Hobbes, he reminded me of Mr. Bun, and I thought I'd bring him out here, too, for one last picnic." She placed Mr. Bun next to her on the blanket. He was a bit faded, and had a few loose seams, and most of his whiskers were missing, but he was still the same old rabbit. Calvin grinned. It was just like old times. 

Calvin got up and grabbed Hobbes from his pack, setting him down next to Mr. Bun on the picnic blanket. "There. Now things are just right," he said. 

"Yes! This brings back great memories," Susie agreed, a childlike grin lighting up her face. "Although, you and Hobbes weren't always so nice to Mr. Bun." She raised an eyebrow at him. 

"Yeah, that's true," Calvin admitted, "We were pretty childish. But I'm really pleased to see him again, and I'm sure Hobbes is, too. Right, buddy?" He nudged Hobbes out of old habit, then laughed at himself, Susie joining in. 

"It's so easy to just see them the way we used to, isn't it?" Susie said, patting Mr. Bun on the head, like she always did when he was a good rabbit. 

"Totally," Calvin agreed, and he ignored the grimace Hobbes made in Mr. Bun's direction. _Not now, you lunkhead,_ he thought at Hobbes. He didn't need to bust out laughing for no reason, like a complete loon. Not when Susie was here. 

"Where'd you find him?" Calvin asked, to distract himself. 

"He was still in my old box of toys in the garage. I was thinking I would give him away to a charity, like you suggested, but he's kind of in rough shape, looking at him now. I might just give him to Buster as a chew toy." Buster was Susie's Jack Russell terrier she'd gotten for her twelfth birthday. 

"Oh, no!" Calvin said, "Don't—" He stopped. He'd been about to say, 'Don't say that in front of Hobbes', but realised how silly that would sound to Susie. There was only so much make-believe you could do as a teenager before people started looking at you strangely. "Don't give him Mr. Bun. I'll give you a few of my leftover toys for Buster," he finished, forcing an awkward smile. 

"Buster would love them," Susie said, smiling back at him. "Maybe I'll spare this little guy, after all." She touched Mr. Bun once more on the top of his head before turning back to her food. 

After lunch they split up, Calvin staying at his 'desk', scribbling out his ideas for the roleplay, and Susie venturing out on a solo hike to find birds for her assignment. Calvin watched her getting ready, stowing binoculars around her neck, donning her hat and sunglasses to keep the sun out of her face, and stocking her backpack with bird book, notebook, pen, water, snacks, and first aid. 

"Stick to the trails," Calvin said as she was leaving. 

"I'll be fine, don't worry," Susie said. "Have fun writing!" 

He did. Calvin got lost in his imaginary world, crafting all sorts of possible side plots and adventures, and he hardly noticed the sun's steady progress across the sky until Susie tapped him on the shoulder, startling him out of his deep concentration. Susie laughed at how he jumped, announcing, "Payback!", then joined him at the table, relieved to be off her feet. 

Calvin caught his breath and stretched. "So, how did it go?" he asked, curious to see what she'd been up to. 

Susie unzipped her pack and pulled out the notebook. "I spotted three magpies, a bluejay, a woodpecker, two house finches, five sparrows, a goshawk, two mourning doves, and a meadowlark." She smiled as she finished reading off the list and closed the notebook with a satisfied snap. 

"Great!" Calvin said. "Will you have to do any more counting, or will that be enough for the project?" 

"That should probably do it, but I think I'm going to do some more anyway. It was a lot of fun." 

They spent the afternoon collecting more firewood and swapping school stories, since they had mostly different teachers this year and hadn't been seeing much of each other at school. They hardly noticed the exercise they were getting until they took a break and found themselves ready to laze around by the campfire. The fire took a little work to get back into cooking mode, and once it was ready they made dinner together, sitting on the old blanket and enjoying the spectacular sunset filtering through the trees. 

Once it got dark they wrapped up in their jackets and roasted marshmallows, Mr. Bun and Hobbes in attendance, and Calvin initiated a scary story-telling session, each of them trying to outdo the other until they both got so creeped out that they retreated into the tent a little earlier than planned and hid in their sleeping bags with their respective plush friends. 

"Hey," Calvin said to Susie once they were settled in, "Wanna hear another one?" 

"No! No more scary stories." 

Calvin was just starting to argue when a blood-curdling scream tore the air, making both of them freeze on the spot, a chill rolling up their backs. Calvin could feel the little hairs on his arms rising. They were not alone; something was out there in the darkness. 

"What the _hell_ was that?!" Calvin hissed. "It sounded like a woman being killed!" 

"It did, and that's not good, Calvin!" Susie hissed back. "I think that's a [mountain lion](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE7YOJVSoIs)!" 

"Oh my god! What do we do? Should we leave?" 

"No, we might be a little safer in the tent, with the fire nearby." 

"MIGHT be?" 

"Keep your voice down! They have excellent hearing!" 

After a lot of quiet panicking, they crept out of the tent together to pile more wood on the fire, diving back into the dubious safety of the fabric shelter and zipping it shut as fast as possible. 

"One of us should try to stay awake to keep the fire going," Susie whispered. 

"I can do that," Calvin whispered back. He didn't like the idea of Susie leaving the tent by herself, even less than he liked the idea of leaving the tent by himself. 

"Ok, wake me up when you get sleepy," she said. She shut off the camping lantern and disappeared into her sleeping bag. Calvin lay in the dark for a space of time, not even slightly sleepy, his ears picking up every tiny crack and rustle in the forest surrounding them. He needed to distract himself, so he pulled out his flashlight and notebook and tried to re-read his notes from earlier without waking Susie up. 

After 15 minutes or so of quiet reading, Calvin was surprised by Susie's voice. "Calvin, could you pass me my canteen?" 

"Sure. You haven't been asleep?" He handed her the canteen. 

"No, I can't sleep at all." She unscrewed the top and took a drink. 

"Yeah, me neither." 

They whispered together for some time and didn't even notice themselves falling asleep.

* * *

When they emerged from the tent the next morning, the fire was dead and they discovered that they'd had a visitor while they'd been sleeping. Calvin felt a terrible chill go up his spine when Susie pointed out the huge paw prints in the moist dirt next to their tent. She pulled out her animal signs guidebook and confirmed that they were indeed mountain lion prints. 

"Should we even stay out here? This seems dangerous." 

"Well, that's the thing, Calvin, mountain lions are usually quite shy. They'd don't like to be near people." Susie was much more confident in daylight. 

"This one doesn't seem shy," Calvin said, indicating the paw prints. 

"Maybe it had never seen a tent before and was curious. Or it might have smelled our food. We should probably hoist that backpack into a tree." 

"Good idea!" That's just what they did, after removing the breakfast items they would need. Calvin felt better about staying in the campsite once the food was safely stowed away. He did remember reading about the importance of suspending your food out of reach of bears, and felt a little dumb for not thinking of it before. 

They left Hobbes and Mr. Bun sitting by the tent door when they went out to collect more firewood after breakfast. When they came back to drop off their first loads, Hobbes was gone. They searched all around the campsite and Calvin even ventured a ways into the woods to look, but Susie called him back. 

"Calvin, he's gone! Don't get lost!" 

Calvin sighed, frustrated, and returned reluctantly to the camp. "What animal would steal a plush toy?" 

"A fox might," Susie suggested. "A mother making a den might like something soft like that." 

"Jeez, so many camp-outs with that little guy and now he's gone." 

"It's all right, Calvin. A tiger would be happier in the woods anyway, right?" She smiled and touched his shoulder. Calvin managed a smile. 

"Yeah, I guess it's a good ending for him _._ " _He always did love it out here_ , he thought to himself. He and Susie got back to work, chatting about what they wanted to do when they were done collecting wood, and they decided to try and find a waterfall they'd both heard about, but had never been to before.

* * *

They found the narrow dirt trail easily enough and followed it through trees and fields, around boulders and ravines, to the waterfall with its pool. The water, where it wasn't frothy with bubbles, was crystal clear, and little grey fish with red-striped tails could be seen darting to and fro beneath the surface. Wildflowers swayed in the breeze all around the pool, their tiny blossoms brilliant splashes of colour in the green and brown landscape. The waterfall was a short, but broad one, rushing down over a pile of boulders under a cliff face to fill the pool. The resulting creek snaked away through the trees, disappearing quickly in the thick greenery. 

"This is amazing!" Calvin shouted, running up to the ledge over the pool, next to the roaring torrent. Susie hurried after him and they laughed and shielded their faces when a gust of wind blew a cloud of ice-cold droplets from the falls onto them. 

"I can just imagine a dragon living under the falls," Calvin shouted over the water's roar, "right in that dark spot." He pointed to a dark recess, indistinctly visible through the rushing water. 

"It probably lures hikers into the pool to eat them!" Susie shouted back. 

They froze their feet wading at the edge of the pool, then settled onto the grass to dry off and have some lunch from their packs. 

"Have Angie and Chris ever been up here?" Susie asked Calvin. 

"I don't think so," he replied around a mouthful of canned ravioli. 

"I thought this would be a great spot to do some LARPing," Susie commented. "We should bring them up here." 

"You haven't joined us in a while. What happened?" 

"I got really busy with the science club," Susie said and took a drink from her canteen. "But someone else is the president now, so I can LARP with you guys again." 

"Great! We just won the battle against the troll army and re-took the kingdom, so it would be a good time to bring back your character." 

They ate and chatted amiably for a while before Calvin's mind wandered back to Hobbes. "Say, Susie, did you put Mr. Bun back in the tent?" 

"No, but I'm sure he'll be ok," Susie said. "That would be pretty odd for both of them to go missing. Whatever animal took Hobbes is probably happy with the amount of stuffing it has to work with. Sorry," she added, wincing sympathetically when Calvin frowned sadly at the thought. She changed the subject. "Remember when we held the birthday party for the two of them?" 

"Yeah," Calvin said. "And we got into a fight over who got more whipped cream on their mud pie!" 

Susie laughed out loud. "Yes! I got in SO much trouble for getting so muddy, and for wasting all the whipped cream!" 

"And _I_ got in trouble for getting _you_ in trouble!" 

"You did?" 

"Oh yeah, your mom called my mom and really gave her an earful. She knew who was always starting stuff and it wasn't you." He laughed. 

"Oh my God, I didn't know about that. I wish I had at the time, because I was SO mad at you that I was the only one who got in trouble." 

"Oh! That was right before you refused to play with me and Hobbes for a month, right?" 

"Yep! It was just me and Mr. Bun. He always was the best secret-keeper. I told him lots of them then so I could have things to whisper to him about when you were looking our way." She burst into giggles at the memory. "It was so dumb." 

Calvin just smiled right back at her. He really had grown up a lot, he realised. Until just then, he hadn't thought of Susie's relationship with Mr. Bun as being the same as the one he had with Hobbes. But it sure sounded like it, based on her story. "So, what did you and Mr. Bun do while you were avoiding us?" 

Susie grinned, remembering. "We had a great time. We held a girl scout camp-out for my dolls in the back yard, and Mr. Bun was in charge of the kitchen. He served three salads a day! Everyone got sick of his cooking. We threw crackers over the fence to the neighbour's dog. Mr. Bun held the box for me. I took him down to the steep hill at the end of the neighbourhood with my trike, and I put him on it and let him go down the hill. He wouldn't stay on, so I tied him on with my jumprope!" They both laughed. 

"I was such a vain child," Calvin said, "I thought you guys must be bored without me and Hobbes. Little did I know." He wanted to ask her more about Mr. Bun, but she brought up the upcoming pep rally at school and conversation drifted in a different direction. 

After lunch they packed up and headed out on the trail to return back to camp, Susie pointing out different species of bird to Calvin, who had requested a 'Bird Tour' on the return trip. The perfect weather was holding out, the sun hanging in a clear sky, with only a moderate breeze winding through the woods to refresh the two hikers. As they rounded a small bend in the trail, a rabbit took a few tentative hops out onto the dirt path a few yards in front of them. 

"Oh, how cute!" Susie said quietly, not wanting to scare it away. She and Calvin stopped and watched as the rabbit hopped a little closer. "Wow, this one isn't very shy," Susie commented. 

"Yeah, it's getting so close," Calvin replied. Wild rabbits startled easily, as he was aware, so this behaviour was quite unusual. 

"I wonder if campers have been feeding it?" Susie whispered. 

The rabbit sat up on its hind legs, nose quivering as it sniffed the air, and its ears rotated suddenly to point to the right of their path. The rabbit abruptly crouched, thumped its foot loudly on the ground several times, and darted off the path to the left, disappearing into the brush. 

"What was that?" Calvin asked as they craned their necks to try to see where the rabbit went. It was gone completely, as far as they could tell. "Why did it stomp like that?" 

"That's a warning signal to other rabbits," Susie explained. "It probably decided we were dangerous and wanted to let its family know where we are so they can avoid us." 

"Smart little critters," Calvin commented, surprised. He didn't know they had that kind of communication system. 

"Yes, they are," Susie said haughtily, "It's not just tigers that are smart." She grinned and elbowed Calvin in the ribs. 

He batted her arm away playfully. "Yeah, yeah," he grumbled, but couldn't help smiling as they carried on down the trail.

* * *

After they'd been on the trail a while, the sun started to dip towards the mountains, cooling the shady world beneath the trees, and Susie and Calvin stopped to pull out extra jackets from their packs. 

Calvin was just zipping his up when Susie tapped his shoulder. "Calvin," Susie said, quiet, but urgent, "Turn around." 

Calvin did as requested, but he didn't immediately see what had caught Susie's attention. "What is it? I don't see—" 

Susie pointed and he finally saw what was bothering her: Standing perfectly still next to a tree ten yards away was a mountain lion. Its grey eyes were trained right on them. The chill from last night crept up Calvin's back again, and his hands and feet went suddenly cold. He only noticed Susie was holding onto his arm when she tightened her grip as the lion took a slow step towards them. 

"What do we do??" Calvin hissed at Susie, but when he looked at her she was petrified, staring in horror at the big cat that was stalking them in earnest now. They stumbled backwards a few steps when the lion took another slow, deliberate step towards them, but this seemed to encourage the animal and it began slinking quickly in their direction, low to the ground. Calvin began looking around wildly for anything they could use as a weapon. If only he'd brought that walking stick! 

A flash of black and orange stripes erupted from the bushes to their left and Calvin and Susie both screamed at full volume as the mountain lion was slammed to the ground by an enormous ball of fur and fang and muscle. Frozen in panic, they caught a glimpse through the grass of dagger-like yellow fangs sinking into the back of the mountain lion's neck, giant paws gripping the smaller animal with huge, needle-pointed talons, and a heart-stopping pair of vivid yellow eyes, intent on their victim. The mountain lion's screams as it struggled made their blood run cold. 

Calvin came to his senses first and grabbed Susie's arm, pulling her violently away from the bloody scene and running faster than was probably safe over the rocky, branch-strewn ground back to their campsite. They flew in panicked leaps and bounds over the obstacles in their way, getting scratched up by branches in their path that they hardly noticed. 

Neither of them slowed until they reached the firepit, at which point they both dropped to the dusty ground, gulping air desperately after their extreme exertion. The daylight was fading fast. 

"What can—we do?" Susie panted to Calvin. "It's getting—dark." 

"Well..." Calvin replied, "I think—you were right—last night. The tent—seemed to—protect us. Maybe—a tiger—won't be any—better—at getting—into a tent." It sounded ridiculous to Calvin as soon as he said it. He could see from Susie's face that she thought the same. 

"Oh, god," Susie moaned, covering her face with her hands. "We're going—to die. We have to—keep the fire—going all night. That's—our only hope." 

The fire had burned down to embers as the sun disappeared behind the trees. They dragged the wood pile closer to the tent and gathered as much extra wood as they could without venturing too far from camp. They piled logs on and got a hearty blaze going, and both felt a little safer with the tall flames shooting big sparks up into the night sky and illuminating a nice circle of ground around their camp. Still, every little animal noise or rustle of leaves in the inky black of the woods around them made them jump. Calvin kept scanning all around for glowing eyes. 

They decided not to cook dinner, just in case the smell might attract attention, and munched on some dried fruit and nuts from Susie's pack instead. They huddled as close to the fire as they could without getting singed or totally choked by smoke, feeding the flames logs and branches as they kept watch in the ominous blackness. There was no way in hell they were going to screw up again by falling asleep and letting the fire die, like they had last night. They peered out into the darkness surrounding them, facing opposite directions, so hopefully nothing could sneak up on them, and tried to talk about neutral topics, but neither of them could focus for long on anything that wasn't their immediate situation. When you were being stalked by a giant, invisible, murderous beast, school and everything else just seemed really silly and irrelevant by comparison. 

They knew they wouldn't be able to stay awake all night, and Calvin volunteered for first watch, Susie eventually dragging her sleeping bag out of the tent and putting it as close to the fire as she dared before she could actually fall asleep. An hour later, as Susie slept next to him, Calvin thought he saw a pair of glowing eyes far off in the distance, but when he stood up to look they had already disappeared. Calvin's heart continued thudding against his ribs for some time after. 

When Calvin's eyes started to drift closed by themselves, he shook Susie's shoulder and she switched places with him, yawning and holding her hands out to the flames to warm them. Calvin slept, troubled by nightmares of monsters hunting him in the dark, until Susie woke him several hours later for another shift. This next watch brought the rising sun with it, and by the time dawn found their tent, they were both too exhausted to stay awake any longer and retreated into the tent after piling the rest of the wood on the fire.

* * *

Calvin woke at some point in the early morning to the sound of Susie quietly crying. She was trying to muffle the sound in her pillow, and that made Calvin even sadder than he already was at the situation. He reached over and gently touched her shoulder. 

"Hey," he said softly. "What's wrong?" 

Susie sniffed loudly and turned over in her sleeping bag to face him, blotting her eyes with the sleeve of her jacket. "I didn't see Mr. Bun last night. He wasn't in camp when we got back. I didn't notice till just now. I know it's really stupid, but I miss him more than I thought I would. Maybe it's just all this stress getting to me." 

Calvin leaned over and gave her an attempt at a hug, and she gratefully hugged him back. 

"Now I know how you feel about Hobbes disappearing," she said into his neck before they parted.

* * *

Later that morning Susie awoke to find Calvin standing, blocking the way out of the tent, and she pushed him aside to get out. "What are you doing?" she asked, rubbing the sleep and crusted tears from her eyes. He was very still, staring into the distance. 

"Look," he said, and raised an arm, pointing. Susie followed the direction of his arm and gasped. Sitting a dozen yards away, on an old tree stump, was Hobbes. He was upright and facing their tent. 

They approached, and found him pretty roughed up, with numerous long tears in the fabric of his belly. But it wasn't Hobbes himself that they paid the most attention to. It was what was sitting in front of him that was truly remarkable. Susie glanced at Calvin, eyes wide, and he looked back at her with a similar expression. 

Sitting on the stump in front of Hobbes was a large feline claw, still attached to part of the toe-bone, which had been ripped from the paw of a big cat. Bloody shreds of flesh hung from the toe pad, fur falling away from the mangled digit. The fur was tawny-grey in colour. 

"That looks like mountain lion fur," Calvin said, voicing what they were both thinking. 

Susie looked very worried. "Calvin, how could this have happened? An animal wouldn't do this," she said, indicating the placement of the items on the stump. "Only a person would arrange things like this. What if there's some crazy hunter out here, and he's the one who took Hobbes?" 

"But why would anyone do that?" Calvin asked. He had his own ideas about how Hobbes and the claw got to be where they were, but he knew Susie would never listen. She'd grown up into a real scientist—without evidence you couldn't convince her of anything. 

"To mess with us!" she said, her eyes frightened. "Some crazy with a gun who enjoys mangling wildlife like this is not someone we want to encounter. He's probably watching us right now," she added under her breath, glancing all around at the trees and undergrowth. 

"But he didn't mangle any wildlife. The tiger killed the mountain lion, remember?" 

Susie shook her head. "That doesn't... that doesn't make any sense. How could there be a tiger out here?" 

"It doesn't _need_ to make sense, Susie! You saw it with your own eyes! We practically pissed ourselves, remember?" 

"I know! I know. But where did the tiger come from? Is there a circus in town right now?" 

"We have a tiger right here," Calvin said, shrugging. 

Susie looked confused for a moment, then rolled her eyes. "Calvin, grow up already! This isn't the time or place. This is _serious_." 

Well, he had to try. Nobody had ever really believed Hobbes was real, not like Calvin did. He'd even stopped believing it himself, at least until last night. But he'd just have to keep his suspicions to himself. 

"You're right, it is serious," Calvin said, to smooth things out. "Let's break camp and get back home. I don't know about you, but I've had enough wilderness for a while." 

"Agreed!"

* * *

While the two of them dismantled the tent, Susie paused and pointed behind Calvin towards the meadow a short distance away. "Oh, look! We have a visitor." Her expression was delighted. 

Calvin twisted around and saw a little rabbit peeking out of the grass at them, nose all a-quiver. 

"That almost makes me feel better about losing Mr. Bun," Susie said, emotion in her voice. "Someone must be feeding these rabbits, though. They seem too tame for their own good." Calvin voiced his agreement. 

He wondered to himself about the rabbit encounters they'd had as they folded the tent and its poles. His suspicions were aroused once more. Everything seemed just too coincidental. When Susie called him back from his daydreaming, he let the thoughts go to focus on the important tasks at hand. 

Susie and Calvin broke camp in record time, not even bothering with breakfast until they were out on the trail. They had no interest at all in trying to go back for Calvin's lost backpack and agreed that would have to happen some other time. They collected the claw in a leftover snack bag, and Calvin carefully tucked Hobbes into his larger camping pack, picking up a few pieces of Hobbes's stuffing that had fallen out and gently putting them back. 

"Do your parents have a digital camera?" Susie asked as they made haste down the trail towards home. 

"I think so," Calvin replied, "Why do you ask?" 

"I thought we should send an email to the university and ask them what species they think the claw is from. They'd probably want to know about a dead mountain lion, anyway." 

"Ok, I'll see if I can do that. I can probably upload a picture to my website."

* * *

Just as he'd expected, Calvin got a big guilt-trip from his mom when he showed up back in the house, and an earful from his dad over the phone from work when his mom called to let him know Calvin was home again. Susie waited in the living room, patient, but embarrassed, for Calvin's parents to stop scolding him, then joined Calvin to explain their story. 

Once they finally managed to get out the tale of the big cats, showing the torn-off claw as evidence, Calvin was able to borrow his mom's digital camera and take a picture of the claw in its plastic bag. He placed a ruler next to it for reference, then started the upload to his GeoCities website while Susie went home to unpack her camping gear and take Buster out. The file was an entire MB and would probably take hours to upload, but he created a page for it anyway, and added the link to a new email, this time to Roland University, in the city. 

After unpacking his remaining gear and having yet another serious talk with his mom about how he was Most Definitely grounded after school from now on, followed by guiltily eating the lunch she made for him, and doing all his chores for the week in one fell swoop to hopefully mitigate his dad's wrath, Calvin was finally able to get back to his room and check on the photo upload. It was done, so he might already have a reply from Roland. 

Calvin opened his email. Re: Species Identification? He clicked the message.

>   
>  _Hi, Calvin!_
> 
> _Thanks for your message. I can't be 100% certain without examining the item myself, but I would guess that the claw you found did belong to a mountain lion, based on its size. Some hikers actually called me yesterday about a mountain lion carcass they found. They said it had been badly mauled, as if by another very large animal. You may have heard that Kahn the tiger escaped from the zoo just before the lion's carcass was found, and we do suspect Kahn's involvement in this killing. It's entirely possible the claw you found is from this same lion, and I'll contact Parks and Wildlife and ask them to look for a missing toe when they do the necropsy. Thanks for getting in touch, and I'll tell you what we find out._
> 
> _Sincerely,_
> 
> _Alice P. Ingle_
> 
> _Chair of Biology, Roland University_   
> 

Wow! An escaped tiger. Calvin glanced at Hobbes, sitting on the desk next to his keyboard. "I guess Susie gets to have her logical explanation now," he said aloud. He was leaning towards that explanation himself, now, feeling a little sad as the Real World that his parents constantly harped about asserted itself into his private realm of thought. 

His wistful musings were interrupted by his mom calling him from downstairs. He got up, a knot forming in his stomach as he wondered what he'd done now. He barely had the chance to leave his room when he saw Susie charging up the stairs towards him. 

"Calvin!" Susie exclaimed, waving something around. "Look!" 

"What is it?" he asked, pausing at his door. Susie caught up to him and barged right into his room. She was so excited she didn't bother to sit down, but thrust a newspaper in his face. Calvin took it and saw immediately what she was trying to show him. On the front page was a photograph of Kahn, the tiger who lived at the local zoo. Calvin unfolded the paper and Susie tapped her finger on the article. Calvin read.

>   
>  _The Chronicle has learned that one of the Blue Mountain Zoo's residents is a Houdini-in-training. Bengal tiger Kahn, the beloved big cat who charms visitors with his stately grace and beautiful coat, was found to be missing from his enclosure Wednesday night. Zoo-keepers initially denied that Kahn had escaped from the zoo, but after the Chronicle told them of a sighting in the green belt, admitted that Kahn had been on the loose for a little over 24 hours before being sedated and captured._
> 
> _Zoo officials assured us that there had been very little danger to humans. "Kahn is 21 years old, which is very elderly for a tiger. He wouldn't be able to prey on adult humans at his age. The most worry would be for small children, household pets, or small livestock, like chickens. Fortunately, Kahn seems to have spent most of his time in the green belt, far from most homes and farms."_
> 
> _Blue Mountain Zoo borders the green belt along one of its edges, which made the escape easy for the crafty tiger. Zoo-keepers gave Kahn a check-up before the sedation wore off, to make sure he wasn't injured, and confirmed that Kahn was no worse for wear for his adventure. "Being sedated stressed him out a bit, but we're sure he'll make a full recovery," said the zoo's head vet. Kahn won't be appearing in his enclosure again until next month, to give him time to rest, so Blue Mountain recommends going to see the other big cats in the meantime._   
> 

"Somebody besides us spotted Kahn out in the woods. It must have been the same tiger," Susie said, sounding relieved. "God, I can't believe he escaped! You'd think zoo-keepers would know to lock up behind them." 

Calvin glanced at Hobbes, still on the desk. He wasn't so sure any more, based on this article. And there was one thing still that didn't add up at all. "How do you explain Hobbes and the claw on the tree stump?" he asked Susie, "That still doesn't make any sense." 

"It must have been some other hikers who were out there. Maybe it was even some classmates of ours, trying to prank us and scare us. Somebody like Todd Anderson, you know?" 

Calvin couldn't imagine any of the cowardly bullies at school having the guts to break the toe off a fresh mountain lion carcass, but he would play along with Susie's idea. "You're right. That's amazing we didn't get killed by Kahn." 

"Yeah, and I'm actually kind of thrilled I got to see Kahn out in the greenbelt. It's amazing to see a big cat engaging in its natural behaviours up close!" 

_She wasn't so thrilled when she thought we were going to die_ , Calvin thought, a bit fondly. But that was Susie: a real nature nerd. She'd probably consider it an honour to be eaten by a wild animal, if she could stop panicking long enough to think about it. 

"Oh, and you know what else?" Susie said, her eyes lighting up. 

"What?" 

"When I got home there was another rabbit out grazing on my front lawn!" She teared up a little and blushed at herself, wiping her eyes. 

"Aww, you must be the luckiest person," Calvin said. "Since Mr. Bun can't walk by himself, I bet he sent those rabbits to visit you and tell you he's happy in the woods." Susie smiled broadly as her eyes sparkled with a few more tears, and Calvin gave her another hug. _Good old Mr. Bun,_ Calvin thought to himself. _Maybe he's a cool character after all._ A friend of Susie's was a friend of his, and Mr. Bun was sticking to her like glue, even if she didn't realise it was him. 

"You're so lucky you still have Hobbes. Poor little guy," Susie said, patting Hobbes on the head as she gazed at the rips in his belly. "I think you should keep him," she added, "Just in case you ever have kids, you know?" 

Susie left the paper with him and went back home, and Calvin went out and sat on the front step for a long while, looking at the news story and thinking. 

It didn't make too much sense that a "very elderly" tiger would be able to fight and subdue a strong, presumably young, fellow big cat, without earning a scratch. The zoo had said that Kahn had no injuries, which seemed unlikely in a fight to the death, even with Kahn greatly outweighing his opponent. A cat's claws are nothing to sneeze at, and as Calvin well knew, five of a cat's six ends are sharp and pointy. 

Calvin returned to his room as the sun began to set and sat down at his desk, picking up the piece of evidence of his and Susie's wild adventure. Calvin turned the claw over and over in its plastic bag, gingerly touching the snapped end of the toe bone through the plastic. It gave him the chills looking at the size of the claw that jutted from the torn flesh, and he imagined it ripping into his skin and muscle, tearing him apart. He and Susie had been so close to death during their stay in the woods. 

He looked at Hobbes, sitting peacefully on the desk, cuddly and soft, but Calvin's eyes couldn't stay away from the huge rips in Hobbes's belly, the stuffing peeking out from the numerous tears. He picked Hobbes up and spoke directly to him. "You saved our lives out there, Hobbes. I _know_ you did. I can't thank you enough." He gave Hobbes a big hug, then went downstairs to grab a few things from his mom's sewing kit. His brave tiger needed stitches, stat. 

It took Calvin about two hours to get Hobbes all patched up, methodically stitching shut all the long gashes by hand with numerous lengths of white thread. Work completed, Calvin held his old friend up under the lamplight, looking at his embroidered nose and eyes. "Don't worry about the thrift store, buddy," he said to Hobbes. "It's till death do us part, now." He hugged Hobbes tight one more time and then placed him gently back in the cardboard box under his bed.

The End. 


End file.
